BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – OUTPERFORMING his closest competitor by four points, De Unexpected pulled out all the stops last evening (Dec. 16) to win the Sugar Mas 43 Best of the Rest Competition.
The competition, which was held at Carnival Village, was amongst 10 calypsonians who participated in the Senior Calypso Monarch Competition but did not get past the Eliminations round.
By order of appearance La La, Lord Matt, Pa-u-la, Watusi, Unexpected, Rock-A-Fella, Lucious, Singing Jennifer, Honesty and Hot Rod took to the stage, each displaying their individual personality and creativity in delivery of their pieces.
Though performing before a small crowd, the calypsonians spared nothing in their attempt to captivate the audience and impress the judges of their deservedness of the crown.
By the end of the night, Master of Ceremony Calypso Reggie and his co-host SB announced the judges’ decision that Singing Jennifer with 198 points was the Second Runner-up while Honesty came in as the First Runner-up with 204 points.
De Unexpected amassed 208 points.
The announcement of Unexpected’s victory was met with boisterous applause and shouts of joy from the audience.
He also received the People’s Choice Award and Honesty received an award for the “Wittiest Song”.
Rum Shop Melee
The piece performed by De Unexpected tells the story of a man who, having had only one “shot of Vodka”, mounts the bar table and begins singing calypso. His rendition is less than pleasing to the bar shop owner because it highlights his take on the political goings-on in the Federation.
The bar owner cautions the man but the customers beg to “let the army man sing”.
Chickungunya
Dressed in a black suit with white stripes, mimicking the aedesaegypti, Honesty played the part of a mosquito going about infecting persons with the chickungunya virus.
The song highlighted the symptoms of the virus, and as he performed an individual was walking among the audience distributing fact sheets on the virus.
When the music died down and the audience thought he had completed his performance, Honesty sent a message to his competitors suggesting that by the end of the evening he would have triumphed.
Reflection of Days of Old
Applying the appropriate props to her lyrics, Singing Jennifer made a vivid comparison of the way people survived in less technologically-advanced times and modern day.
She sang of the relationship with her mother who asked questions about her well-being and her chores for the day etc; questions which seem irrelevant in today’s context.
Her props included an old typewriter and a makeshift latrine.
Before the patrons of the event left Carnival Village, they were treated with another round of King Unexpected’s ‘Rum Shop Melee’ to which he added a line that says “none ah dem could bang me lyrically…”
